A new smartphone app has been launched to support the Gardai in its work in relation to Child Rescue alerts.
The Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan, Minster for Justice Equality & Defence Alan Shatter TD and the CEO of Vodafone Ireland Anne O’ Leary launched the app at an event on the 4th of December at Farmleigh House, Phoenix Park
The App allows users receive CRI (Child Rescue Ireland) alerts direct to their smartphone. The smartphone app was created with the assistance of the Vodafone Ireland Foundation.
The app utilises two standards – a notification for when a CRI Alert is issued and a space to securely maintain up-to-date information including photos concerning you own children for easy access (by the phone owner only) should the need arise.
The benefits of having this information at hand was outlined by Alibhne Mooney of Vodafone Ireland should your child go missing while you are on holidays or in a shopping centre, you have detailed information to supply to security personnel who can assist in carrying out a search.
“You can well understand the panic that can arise when a child goes missing, you can’t think straight when you are asked for a detailed description but by reaching for your phone you can supply the required information together with a recent photograph. It is important to update the information as the child gets older.”
In a live run the benefits of the CRI was tested when a Roscommon based family, a mother and three children were reported missing on the 28th of November. The CRI alert was made at 3.00am and by 7.30am the family was discovered by a PSNI Officer in the forecourt of a garage in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh.
Photos by Alan Dowley
